Kyrios was knocked out in the 3rd round of this year’s US Open Tennis.

As is usually the case with Kyrios, there were always some excuses.

First, her wanted a linesperson removed because he was a “whistleblower”. That’s right, a whistleblower.

Apparently Kyrios had used some offensive language and the linesperson reported it to the chair umpire who gave him a warning.

There are rules in tennis about foul language. What Kyrios did was a minor infringement. It deserved a warning and let’s get on with the game.

While most players would shrug their shoulders and say “fair cop” and continue with the game, our Nick is not one of those players.

He had to argue with the chair umpire, call the linesperson a whistleblower and ask for him to be removed.

The next excuse he used was Call of Duty. “Gaming, bro. Call of Duty has ruined me” he moaned to his box at one stage.

During the second set, he even said to the Chair Umpire: “I don’t even want to be here. I just want to go home.”

Well, the unseeded world number 43 Andrey Rublev granted Nick his wish, dispatching him in straight sets 7-6, 7-6, 6-3.

And once more the tennis public are left to wonder whether Nick Kyrios is a wasted talent or a waste of time.

Nick Kyrios

No one has ever questioned Nick’s talent. John McEnroe described him as being the most talented play he has seen for the last 10 years. And yet, his results don’t stack up with the current great players.

Nick Kyrios is 24. His highest career ranking was in 2016 when he peaked at 13.

He currently sits at number 30. His best efforts in a Grand Slam are two quarter finals out of 26 attempts — 8 times, he has either lost in qualifying or in the first round.

By the time Roger Federer was 24, he had won six Majors and had achieved the world number one rank.

By the time Rafael Nadal was 24, he had won nine Majors and had achieved the world number one rank.

By the time Novak Djokovic was 24, he had three Majors, had cracked the top 10 and hit number one when he was 25.

In comparison, Nick seems content to cruise along, put in as little effort as he can and count his millions when he is not partying or playing online games.

He seems happy to win the occasional tour victory (he has won six titles in his career) and then tell the public how good he would be if he actually practised — if he actually applied himself.

It almost seems to me that Kyrios is actually afraid of putting in 100 per cent effort and not winning. It’s like he thinks that would make him a failure.

He seems to want to look back on his career and say: “I would’ve won 30 majors if I tried.”

But, you know what, we could all use that lame excuse. I could say I could’ve won Wimbledon if I tried. I just never put the effort in.

If I had played golf more than three times a year, I had the talent to win the US Masters — but I didn’t.

At the rate Nick is going, he will finish his career with 20 or 30 career titles but no Majors, and a highest ranking of 13.

Meanwhile, Ash Barty moves into the quarters, having already won a major and a number one ranking, all by the age of 23 — and after taking a couple of years off to reassess her love of the game.

Nick has more natural talent than Ash, but when it comes to drive, ambition and determination, Ash makes Nick look like a 4th grade park cricketer.

Nick needs to spend a bit of time listening to music. He could learn a thing or two from one of my favourite singer song writers from the 70s, Neil Young.

In his song Ambulance Blues, Young wrote “You’re all just pissing in the wind, you don’t know it but you are. And there aint nothing like a friend, who can tell you you’re just pissing in the wind”.

Related

Brett Bennie is a sport tragic. He'll travel many hours just to see his favourite football team play - come rain, hail or shine. Brett has played most sports, has watched those he hasn't played and has an opinion on all of them. He's the guy you want on your trivia team when it comes to the sport questions. He's the guy who's never wrong.